Recession: Buhari’s economic team kicks off quarterly business forum

Members of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s Economic Management Team led by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will on Monday commence a Presidential Quarterly Business Forum with the Organised Private Sector, OPS, a statement by presidential media aide, Laolu Akande said on Friday.

According to Akande, the forum is part of efforts by the federal government to continually engage with different segments of the Nigerian public on its economic policies and direction even as the country faces recession . The forum will be led by the Vice President who is in charge of the economy.

The announcement of the forum is coming barely 24 hours after the President declared that his administration was ready to leverage on Public Private Partnerships (PPP) amongst other options to augment the country’s scarce budgetary resources. This, he said would fast-track investments in critical infrastructure as his administration seeks
measures to bring the country out of the economic recession.

The President whose body language towards the private sector was hitherto distant, last week made a turn as government revenue continues to shrink following low oil prices.

“This deliberate inclusion underscores the commitment of this Administration to leverage on private sector resources, through Public Private Partnerships (PPP) and other arrangements, in order to augment
the scarce budgetary resources at our disposal and to accelerate investments in building critical infrastructure” the President said at a one-day retreat with his cabinet alongside economic experts.

The country slid into a recession after a contraction of 0.36 and 0.26 percent respectively for the first and second quarter of the year. Inflation in Nigeria which was a single digit between Q1:2014 and Q4:2015 has risen to double-digit. Also, unemployment figures have been rising consistently in 2016. This has led to calls for various interventions by all tiers of the government to stem the free fall of the economy.